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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23144470">Setting down roots</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/down/pseuds/down'>down</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Magic Knight Rayearth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Clef builds himself a witch's cottage in the woods, F/M, Post-Canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 10:00:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,839</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23144470</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/down/pseuds/down</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Clef moves himself out of the Castle, to reclaim some control over his life. </p><p>Of course, Umi's a threat to his control over everything, these days - but if he doesn't think about it, he doesn't have to deal with that. Right? </p><p>Umi just wants to learn to read, because she's still not convinced he's telling the truth about all those books he has.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clef/Ryuuzaki Umi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. A new leaf</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>These chapters were originally written as stand-alone fic on fan-flashworks but they built into a whole thing. So I'm posting them as one~ *grin*</p><p>'Demesne' is essentially the same word as domain (and it's pronounced similarly, not how it looks to the english-speaker's eye, more 'demean').</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Hey, Clef, you ready? We're not letting you make any excuses this time - you're coming out with us whether you want to or not." </p><p>Clef glanced up at the door to his cottage, where Umi was hanging over the threshold - which should be keeping people out and making them knock before they barged in, one of the reasons he'd finally moved out of the castle and into the woods just beyond the grounds, reclaiming his own space, but Umi always did seem to get by him somehow. </p><p>"Are you planning on knocking me out? I'm not sure that's going to make me enjoy myself on this picnic," he said, raising an eyebrow. </p><p>She rolled her eyes at him, stepping fully into the room. The wards lit up warm gold behind her for a moment as she came inside, but didn't stop her - he sighed internally, and hoped no one else was lurking outside to see that. "It would get you some sunshine, at least," she said, not noticing anything. "Which is healthy. And if you were unconscious you'd almost be resting, wouldn't you?" </p><p>"No. Unconsciousness and resting are not equivalent." He shook his head, and turned back to the letter he was writing. "Look, just give me a moment to finish this and send it back - Livina needs an answer before we're due back." </p><p>"Five minutes, no more," she warned him. The warning was slightly undermined by the curious way she peered about the main room, and down the corridor to the kitchen and scullery and stairs. "You've been decorating since last month." </p><p>"Last month I'd just built the place," he muttered, trying to keep writing the sentence about the Castle's wards he'd started and not just write down what they were saying. "I hadn't dug out any real furniture at that point." He'd managed that since, going through old belongings that he'd had stored away and visiting some of the market stalls out in the castle town to get a couple of rugs for the stone floor, cushions for the carved wooden settees he'd had for centuries with their scrolling out-of-date legs, a new writing desk to sit in the main room and away from the bureau in his study - now tucked down the side of the house. He'd found his old bed, set it back in the main bedroom upstairs, and had the frame for the bed in the guestroom - he needed a mattress and more bedclothes but he was getting there. </p><p>"I like these." </p><p>The approval in her voice was strong enough Clef looked around before he could help himself, to find her with one hand stroking over the carved wooden dragon on the edge of the closest bookcase. There were six, he'd had new ones made to go with the collection every time he ran out of room, and for three centuries the whole lot - and all the books now set in mis-matched piles on them - had been tucked into a storage gem and untouched. </p><p>He'd built the cottage to fit them, remembering the size precisely, and took some pride in Umi's approval - though he'd not made any of the cases himself. They were all decorated with creatures of one sort or another, but dragons and griffins were fairly well represented in the carving. </p><p>Umi moved along the row, her hand trailing over the wood, and he forced himself to look away again, not responding. It didn't stop her. "What even are all these books? Histories and books on magic, I guess?" </p><p>"A few," he muttered, writing 'and the keystone is in the foundations under the main tower, it can be found in the room with the pool below the Council chamber'.</p><p>"…That means either all of them are, or hardly any are." </p><p>"Hm?" </p><p>"The books! If they aren't all spellbooks - what <em>are</em> they?" </p><p>"Books," he told her, signing his name off. "You can't read them anyway, why do you care?" </p><p>"Because I can't imagine you reading anything but serious volumes of non-fiction?" Umi prodded one of the covers as he looked across. </p><p>Clef huffed a laugh, folding the paper and pressing his seal to it to hold it shut. He went to nearest window and opened it, leaning out and whistling one long low note. One of the small fluffy birds which roosted in the large tree which stood half over the house, protecting it from the worst edge of the weather, hooted back and swooped down to sit on his wrist. He held the letter up. "Would you please take this to Livina, in the Guildhall?" he asked, and smiled when he was chirped at. "Thank you." He handed over a small treat before holding out the letter to be grasped in one careful beak, and off it flew, darting between branches. </p><p>"…Did you just give a letter to an owl?" Umi asked him, voice quivering. </p><p>He turned and frowned at her. "A cousin to an owl, yes." </p><p>"That's-" she gave in, and snickered. </p><p>"I am not convinced I wish to know what you find so entertaining," he said, with a sigh, and shut the window again. </p><p>"It's just - there's a book series that's getting really popular - don't worry about it." </p><p>Clef eyed her warily, but decided to let the subject go. "To answer your earlier question," he said, picking a lightweight outer robe from the back of his chair, "when those books are all in order, three cases will be mostly non-fiction. The rest are far more entertaining than instructional - I haven't had time to read for pleasure in years, but hopefully I'll hammer out some space to do so now. There are several hundred books there that I bought just before I became Guru, and I still haven't read them." </p><p>"…They're <em>novels</em>?" Umi stared at him. </p><p>"Yes." </p><p>"Adventure stories?" </p><p>"Some of them." His lips twitched. If he really wanted to get out of the picnic, this would have been the moment to distract her. As it was, he was hungry. But he could afford to be amused by her confusion a moment. </p><p>"What else? Horror?" </p><p>"Only one or two, if that." </p><p>"…Romances?" </p><p>He grinned. "Most of them, yes." </p><p>Umi stared at him, then the books. "What, really? Like - wait, love stories or coming-of-age stories?" </p><p>"Both, usually." </p><p>It wasn't often he managed to stun her into silence, but that seemed to manage it. He took the opportunity to head back to the kitchen and grabbed the basket of fruit from the trees in what would hopefully soon be as much a garden as a bit of the wood he'd put a fence around - his offering for the picnic. By the time he returned, Umi had pulled one off the shelf and was staring down at it. </p><p>"That one's more of an epic - three generations in one line all finding their way. There's a fair amount of romance in it too, though," he said, helpfully, to watch her glare at the pages. </p><p>"That's it, I'm going to learn to read Cephiran staring now. I need to know if you're telling the truth or not. I'm sure Selece can work out a way around the translation spell so I actually understand Cephiran," she muttered.  </p><p>"Why wouldn't I be telling the truth? Aren't I allowed to have less serious things in my life?" </p><p>"Allowed, sure, but I've not seen any other signs of it!" </p><p>"Oh, come on," he said, grabbing her by the elbow and dragging her back across the wards, out the front door. "We can start you on letters after food, if you're serious. Right now we need to catch up with the others - mind if Fyula gives us a lift? He hasn't had a chance to stretch his wings a while." </p><p>"No, no, that's fine, I just…" Umi shook her head, and then laughed, finally, pushing his front door shut. "I never expected you to move out the castle, either. Did you decide it was time to get your own life, or something?" </p><p>"Time to get it back," he admitted, the words not as hard to say anymore as they had been. The house was one step. Delegating more of his job, another. As for what else he might be contemplating… well, there was plenty of time for that. </p><p>First, a picnic, and apparently a reading lesson.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. A good yarn</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So, what's this book about?" Umi asked, flopping into the chair beside Clef's over-cluttered desk out in his little cottage, picking up a slim, colourfully-bound volume that was sat conspicuously on the end of the desk. It had a green-and-gold dragon on the cover, a title in large bold letters across the top. There were another couple of books below it, with similarly bright and cheerful covers and not that many pages. Also, as she flicked through the first one, it was illustrated on every other page, and not that many words, and-</p><p>"Clef, are these children's picture books?" </p><p>Blinking, Clef looked up at her. "Sorry, what did you say?" </p><p>She sighed, and waved the book at him. "Are you so overworked you've started reading children's books to give your brain some rest?" </p><p>Snorting, Clef sat back in his chair and stretched, back crunching so loud that Umi winced along with him. "No, though it might be a reasonable idea. Those are for you, actually." </p><p>Eyeing the books, Umi paused. "Uh, Clef-" </p><p>"You said you wanted to learn to read Cephiran, and read it fluently. I figured a few good stories would help motivate you - all those have a few exciting sword-fights or a magical escapade of some sort, and even simplified in those versions, they're fun." He shrugged. "It's how most of us learn to read, and you wanted to know more about Cephiran culture, don't you? All those are classic tales. So-" </p><p>"Thank you," Umi blurted, cutting off the awkwardly-extending explanation, flicking through the first book again. It did have a sword-fight in it, as well as several dragons. She'd not expected him to take her grumbling complaint about not being able to read anything here to heart. "…Will you help me with them?" </p><p>Clef looked back at his papers, the tips of his ears going bright pink as he muttered "I wouldn't mind. It would be a break from these restructure papers, anyway." He glanced at her, with a grin. "Though at least they don't argue with me." </p><p>"I only argue when you're wrong," Umi retorted, and pulled her chair in closer to the table. "So, how much more do you have to do tonight? Do you have time to start this? Or-" </p><p>"I was thinking you might start with actually learning the whole set of Cephiran letters, not just learning half and guessing the rest," he said, but with a laugh, setting his pen aside and clearing a space for Umi to set the book down. "If you get through a page, I could read you one of the tales from the book of legends you were sighing over last week. If you wanted." </p><p>"It's a deal," Umi declared, and settled in next to him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Tending</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Visiting Clef's cottage in the first hour or so of each visit to Cephiro had become a habit for Umi, over the past few months. </p><p>She'd been surprised, when he up and moved out of the Castle - not that he'd gone far, but just that he'd gone at all. He'd not mentioned the plans, she'd just turned up in the summer and when she headed for his study, Ferio had called out 'if you're looking for Clef, he's at his new house today."</p><p>For a moment, she'd been struck by a completely horrible feeling. Her whole stomach had turned over - had he moved away so she wouldn't be able to see him anymore? They'd been arguing a lot, lately, about the most nonsensical things, but she hadn't thought he would leave without telling her-</p><p>"It's about ten minutes walk from the bailey gate, the Guard on duty can point you in the right direction," Ferio continued, and Umi had swallowed, trying not to let the relief show. </p><p>When she walked down the path that the lady on duty at the gate at pointed out, and found the little cottage in the woods, with a low wooden fence about it, timber-framed with white-plaster walls and a chimney… well. She stood at the gate and tried not to giggle. It would have made the perfect witch's cottage in some film. </p><p>Today, with autumn starting to turn the leaves on the trees it looked even more so. Not only was there now some vine clinging to the walls down one side, but the whole front garden seemed to be a herb patch, and there was a distinct increase in the number of birds and other creatures hanging out in the trees around the building. She was still snickering as she headed down the path and opened the front door, knocking on it as she stepped in through the warm flickering touch of the wards. </p><p>"You're meant to knock <em>first</em>," Clef said, not looking up from the notebook he was writing in. He was sat at a writing desk set against the side wall, by a window flooded with warm afternoon sunlight. A griffin the size of a large dog was curled up on the floor beside the desk, fast asleep on what looked like a set of Clef's robes. </p><p>Umi grinned at him. "Hey, at least I remembered to knock."</p><p>"I suppose that is an improvement." He glanced up, smiling, to wave her in. "Do you mind making a cup of tea? I want to finish this off." </p><p>"Sure." She let the door swing shut and headed on back to the kitchen. He'd shown her how to work the heating-stones set into the counter after the third time she insisted he give her a reading lesson, by now she knew where to find kettle, teapot, and cups - and which tea Clef liked best in the afternoons. The rich, smoky scent from the leaves when she opened the caddy was almost like chocolate. </p><p>From here, she could see out into the back garden, which had a vegetable patch by the back door leading on into a miniature orchard, a dozen fruit trees sheltered by the taller trees of the wood. "Total witch's cottage," she told the view, before getting two cups of tea ready and heading back to the front room. </p><p>"There's some spiced bread in the pantry, in the round green tin," Clef said, head still down over his notebook. The griffin was so fast asleep it was twitching its claws and making little brr noises, probably dreaming of catching dinner. "You might as well bring it through, there's not much left." </p><p>Umi fetched that, too, and set it on the little low table by the sofa. There was a small pile of books there, all thin and with large titles on the covers. A bowl held fruit from the garden. "Clef, why do you grow so much food when the Castle's right there and you still eat there most of the time? Plus you could buy anything you want from the marketplace. Don't you have enough to do, without adding all that gardening work?" </p><p>"I like it," Clef said, finally setting his pen down and turning to raise an eyebrow at her. "It's comforting, sometimes, to have a little piece of Cephiro to look after - but just a little bit, and the choices I make here will mostly only affect me. It doesn't take that much tending to, either. Anyway, this way I don't have to bother looking up stock levels before I start fiddling with potion-making, I can just go into the garden and grab the ingredients I need."</p><p>"I thought all these romance books you claim to have were to be comforting." Umi waved a hand at the bookshelves, the books much neater now than when she'd first found out that they weren't just stocked with heavy tomes of magical theory. She still didn't quite believe him that a hefty chunk were romances, but he'd agreed to teach her to read Cephiran so she could see for herself. </p><p>"They are," Clef retorted, shaking his head. "So is a cup of tea, or a walk in the quiet of the woods, or a warm blanket on a chilly night." </p><p>"Those all seem a lot less like work than weeding." </p><p>Clef shook his head at her, smiling slightly, and she looked away. Whatever it was about this place, they'd argued less often and less violently since Clef had it. Maybe it was just because he wasn't working all hours anymore, having somewhere outside the castle to go home to, but he was a lot more settled. </p><p>So was Umi, when she was here. The place felt… looked after. </p><p>Though at the same time, it felt a lot more like they were alone with each other than it ever had at the castle, and she never quite forgot that, a tension at the back of her mind the whole time. </p><p>Still, with tea and books to busy themselves with, Clef offering her the choice of what she tried reading this afternoon, there was nowhere she would rather spend her time.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Setting down roots</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"I'm thinking of adding a cellar," Clef said, without warning, one afternoon. Umi had come over for her reading lesson, but they'd been going on for months now, and she mostly picked up a book and read it herself, poking him when it didn't make sense. </p><p>He picked out a selection of books and gave her a list of words to look up first, but the lessons at this point were more the discussion they had after she'd done some reading. There were a lot of cultural references which no one thought about until someone who didn't understand them ran headlong into them; he'd tried to pick books that helped explain some, so when she started reading novels that through about references here there and everywhere, she wouldn't have to keep stopping and looking things up. The knights had been coming back and forth to Cephiro for years now - were on the verge of doing it the other way around, and going back and forth to Tokyo while living here - but there was only so much of another culture you could easily pick up on short visits, no matter how many of them you made. </p><p>So right now, Umi's 'reading lessons' involved her showing up at his cottage early afternoon, reading for a few hours while they chatted and drank tea on and off, then Clef cooked them something so they could eat together and discuss the books. </p><p>He was perfectly aware that this was the most obscure way anyone had ever invited someone over for dinner, but not letting himself panic about anything related to <em>feelings</em> was very high on his agenda. If he panicked, he was going to somehow mess up their friendship, let alone anything else. </p><p>Today he was going over the plans Ferio had come up with for the next festival day, while Umi lounged on the sofa and read a book about a young girl who had found a just-hatched dragon at the end of the garden and decided the best thing to do with it was to keep it, and raise it, secretly, without her parents - both of whom were allergic to pretty much anything that moved - knowing about it at all. Hijinks, naturally, ensued; from the occasional snickering as Umi made her way through the slim volume, she was enjoying them. </p><p>The snickers had fallen silent now, and when he looked up she was staring at him with the greatest confusion. "You want to - add a cellar? What, under the house?" </p><p>"Yes?" </p><p>"Why?" she asked, and he hadn't thought it was a particularly startling statement, but she was actually sitting up and turning around to look at him, abandoning her comfortable sprawl on the sofa which she'd claimed so thoroughly in these afternoons that he thought of it as hers. </p><p>Clef blinked at her. "…So I can store things in it?" He shook his head, trying to gather himself into more coherency than that. "I'm getting a fair amount of produce from the garden, it would be nice to have a stasis-charmed cellar to hold it. The charms work better below ground, if the earth spirits are willing to have them there, and I get on pretty well with the local spirits here, I don't think they'd mind and I can pay the usual tithe easily enough." </p><p>"…The usual tithe?" </p><p>"A basket for each of the local spirits once a month through winter and a couple of months either side, and an extra helping of the festival food each high day, unless there's some local tradition here that asks for something different - I'll go through the usual negotiation rituals with them before I start, of course, then it's just a matter of finding a day that's good for everyone, and they'll think kindly on it when I ask the earth to move aside, and - I get the impression this isn't how things work in Tokyo. You don't have Spirits, do you?" </p><p>"I mean, we do, but - not the same way?" She shook her head, draping her arms over the back of the sofa and relaxing into the cushions. "We have to dig out things like cellars by hand, except when I say by hand I mean with a big machine, these days, and you generally have to do that before you drop a building on top of it." </p><p>"It's a good thing we don't have to do that here, I'd not thought to have one as part of the original plans. The upper floor was a late addition, too, but I suppose that would be easier to add on." </p><p>"Building up is generally easier than removing the foundations you've put your building on," Umi agreed, and still she was leaning over the sofa, watching him closely. "You've got a pantry already, though, and there's room to the side of the cottage. Wouldn't expanding sideways be easier?" </p><p>"Well, the stasis spells…" Clef glanced away, aware his face was starting to warm. "And that space might be useful someday. I'd rather go sideways than add another story up, if there was a need for more space sometime." </p><p>"More space than this?" Umi looked about, and he knew what she saw - the one room he spent over half his time in when he was here, a large chunk of the rest of his time being spent outside, and he'd told her there were a couple of rooms upstairs he was using mostly as box rooms right now, slowly going through things he'd amassed over the years to work out if he wanted to keep it, use it, or move it on to someone new. Compared to the space he'd had in the castle, this was a huge place, and he didn't see it getting too much bigger whatever happened, but.</p><p>"This is fine for just me, but it might get a bit crowded if I wasn't alone," he said, hearing his own voice distantly as he tried not to look at Umi, not to think about what he was saying, and - most of all - not to panic. </p><p>Shifting sounds from the sofa let him know Umi had reacted to that, but he didn't dare look up to see her expression, so he had no idea how until she spoke, her own voice a little hoarse. </p><p>"You mean, you might - have an apprentice living here, something like that?" </p><p>He nodded, accepting that reason - which was perfectly true, it wasn't uncommon for an apprentice or even a qualified mage working towards their mastery to go live with a mentor for a couple of years, shadowing them in their work and getting guidance in their studies. He'd thought about asking the Guild administrators about going on the rolls as free for a placement, if anyone wanted one - he'd done a bit of class teaching now and then, but aside from Ascot and, arguably, the Knights, he hadn't had any student who really qualified as an 'apprentice' in the last few centuries.</p><p>The only reason he hadn't done so yet was Livina was still convinced his moving out of the Castle meant he was looking to step down as Guru sometime soon, and he had no doubt she would take the acquisition of an apprentice the same way, and he didn't know how to tell her that actually having people about, having other things to do, made being Guru easier. So he was avoiding the argument, with about as much determination as he'd been avoiding having any of the conversations with Umi which were lurking on the horizon. </p><p>They were lurking closer than that now, he realised, glancing up to find Umi staring at him. He looked away again. "Anyway! The garden's bound to have some good years and some bad ones, so it only makes sense to hold over something from the good years. Plus, I can start rotating the things I'm growing then, but still have them to hand." </p><p>"…You can't just stick them in a storage gem?" </p><p>"The storage spell doesn't hold things as well as a stasis spell," he said, and leapt upon the topic with vigour. "They achieve similar ends, but they do it in separate ways - have you ever seen Presea or anyone charm a gem? I've some stones somewhere upstairs, that I've never got around to using - do you want to learn how to do it? It's a bit different to the kinds of magic you've used before, but it's very useful, and not that difficult - I'll go find one." </p><p>Standing, he made it to the corridor and almost to the base of the stairs without looking at her, but was halted by her calling out to him. </p><p>"Hey, Clef… can I come with you?" </p><p>He halted, frozen to the spot, and stared back at her wide-eyed. Umi was looking a little panicked, too, or as close as he'd seen her get to it in years - her hands were white-knuckled on the back of the sofa, book entirely forgotten. </p><p>Taking a deep breath, he tried to find his voice, and failed. He'd failed his main goal, too; Umi knew something was up, and the idea of letting her see upstairs had him feeling more exposed than if she'd just asked him to take his clothes off. </p><p>…Which wasn't a good track to let his mind go down at all. </p><p>He nodded, instead of saying anything, and headed upstairs just as silently, listening for her footsteps as she followed. </p><p>The stairs came up on a small landing, the railings somewhat whimsically curved and carved wood with a couple of small griffins and dragons hidden here and there - he'd given up the pretence that this whole house wasn't one big indulgence, by the time he'd been putting them in, and all the woodwork up here was the same - when he was a child, he'd been taken to a master wood-worker's workshop once, with his mother. They'd been invited around the back for a cup of tea, into the woman's home, and there had been whimsical carvings tucked into every possible nook and cranny of the place. </p><p>All his life, he'd remembered how welcoming that place had felt, how happy the owner and her family had been, and he'd purchased bits and pieces of furniture that reminded him of that place on and off. But he'd never quite let him make something like it himself, before this. </p><p>Which was one thing. The other - others - were what caught Umi's attention first, inevitably. His bedroom stood at the front of the cottage, door still open and the bedsheets blatantly flung about where he'd clambered out that morning in search of tea - and when she managed to pull her eyes from that, she looked abotu the rest of the place, and he saw her trying to tally it with 'just a couple of box rooms?'</p><p>There was a bathroom up here, a pretty good size, and those box rooms were both a respectable size for anyone to have as a bedroom, or a study. In fact, as it stood, there was absolutely no reason he would ever have to expand the place just to take on an apprentice. </p><p>"The gems are in this one, I think," he got out, and pushed into the room at the back of the house, trying not to look at the creatures tucked into the knots and the corners of the wood here and there, secrets to be found by any future occupant. There was a wide dormer window at the back, and smaller windows either side of the room, flooding it with light - there was plenty of space to tuck a chair by that big window, a couple of small beds by the walls… </p><p>It was perfectly good as a storage room, and the items piled up hopefully disguised everything else it might be. It would make an excellent library, as well, when he inevitably ran out of space to put new bookshelves in the living room. Or it would make a good room for any adult to take as their own. </p><p>The gems he knew about because he'd only found them a week ago, and he went straight to the back of the room and the table he'd dropped them on, ignoring the sound of Umi moving about behind him, looking into a couple of the boxes and chests of drawers, peeking into the other box room - which was also a good size.</p><p>"I mean," she said as though she was continuing a thought she hadn't voiced, the sound wobbling slightly, "you do have so much stuff up here it's going to take you years to sort through it all, so I'm not surprised you're thinking of adding more space." </p><p>"Yes," he agreed, quickly, turning about with the bag in his hand. "I've more things still in storage somewhere in the castle, too, I don't even remember all the things I've collected over the years. Which is another reason a cellar beats a storage gem! I can have things where I can see them, so I remember they exist-" </p><p>He turned with the velvety bag of polished gemstones in his hand, to find Umi only a few steps away, biting her lip. </p><p>"Umi?" </p><p>"Please tell me there's a reason you've decorated your whole house with dragons as well as griffins," she said, all in a rush, and he felt his face go bright red. "And a couple of Fyula, I spotted them too, but-" </p><p>His voice caught in his throat, and he couldn't move, and fortunately Umi wasn't one to wait for him to get over the blinding, <em>ridiculous</em> panic that rushed over him. She closed the gap between them, her hands coming up to cradle his face, and falling into her kiss was like falling into the ocean and keeping on going, sinking right under the waves. </p><p>The bag of gems clattered as it fell to the floor. Clef shuddered, and the <em>cottage</em> shuddered, magic flickering about him as he gave up control, and wrapped his arms about Umi, and tried to keep up. </p><p>For a moment, all he could think was 'she isn't going to make me try talking!' with the purest relief he'd ever felt.</p><p>She pulled away slightly, dragging in a shaking breath, and they were pressed close enough he could feel her chest move against his. "You could have asked me what <em>I</em> wanted in a house, before you made one for us, you- twit," she said, but the way her lips were twitching up into a smile took any sting from the words. "Seriously! I might not want to live in a witch's cottage in the woods!" </p><p>"I was making the cottage for <em>me</em>," he protested, hoarsely. "It's just… apparently I want you here, too, if you'd like, and - I can change it, change all of it, move back, whatever you want - I just needed to get <em>out</em>, the castle was so- I couldn't imagine what I wanted, there, because all I wanted to be was out-" </p><p>Umi kissed him again, and he gladly gave up the attempt to explain anything. She obviously understood the most important part, anyway, if not the huge tangle of fear that had scared him off even dreaming of this, Umi in his arms in the afternoon sunlight, holding him close. He didn't understand it himself.</p><p>Her lips moved from his to his cheek, and then the curve of his jaw, and down to his neck, and when she pressed a kiss there he shivered again, the sensation jolting right through him. Flickering sparks of magic were dancing about them like motes of dust in the air. "Umi," he said again, a breathless warning this time; it had been far too long for any semblance of control over his reactions, especially not when panic and hope had his heart thundering before she'd even touched him. </p><p>Pausing, Umi pulled back far enough to look at him, and then she gave him the most satisfied grin he'd ever seen on someone's face. "Oh, really?" she murmured, and instead of backing off, she pressed closer against him. </p><p>He couldn't quite stop the noise he made at that, his hands gripping her clothes as tightly as he could. "It's not… a good idea?" he managed, though he didn't sound convinced even to himself. </p><p>"What isn't?" Umi said, and pressed her mouth back against his neck. "This?" she murmured, breath hot on his skin, and this time she bit him - not even gently. </p><p>Clef jolted, crying out, and the next half an hour or so blurred in a headlong rush of pleasure that left them both dishevelled and breathless, laying on the floorboards between a stack of boxes, a spare sideboard, and a set of eight dining-table chairs. </p><p>"This wasn't what I had planned for the afternoon," Umi said, thoughtfully, tucked against his side as they slowly caught their breath.</p><p>Huffing a laugh, Clef pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I was trying not to plan anything at all. Too frightening." </p><p>"Apart from a cellar?" </p><p>"Cellars I can deal with. You…" </p><p>Umi beamed at him. "I'm scary, am I?" </p><p>"Terrifying," he told her, absolutely honestly, and another five minutes melted away as she kissed him again. </p><p>"But I agree, if you're having an apprentice here sometime, they're definitely not having this room," she said, looking about with no little satisfaction. </p><p>Clef started to laugh, and had to lay his head back on the floor, closing his eyes against the sight of his bedroom - not ten paces away - and yet here they were, lying on the bare floor. </p><p>"Next time," Umi told him, when he shared the thought. "…In fact, why don't we go have a look, I didn't go in there so you'll have to show me around…" </p><p>Laughing still, Clef kissed her, and agreed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>There may be a bit from Umi's pov after this, but it feels pretty complete anyway so I'm marking it as such, just - in a couple of years another chapter may appear?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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